Curse of Wings
by ShadowMoonSedai
Summary: There has always been a certain mystery to the Dynasty's past... now one more piece of the puzzle is found.


Rijan is a word I made up and if it pertains at all to an actual language... I don't give a damn. ~bg~ Love you all!

Curse of Wings

The wind whipped at Rijan's shirt and tossed it around her angelic face. She reached up and brushed the long black strands away from green eyes, so she could watch river beneath her. The rapids roared over the sharp rocks and cascaded beyond her vision. 

~ Those who are caught in the shadow of the Guardian will know no mercy. ~ Something warm brushed against her leg and she reached down to rest her hand on the black and white head of the tiger. 

"Byakuen," she murmured. "Is it really this bad? Must we always run?" Her only reply was a growl and the soft thud as the animal dropped down to lay at her feet. ~ Must I always hide? ~

Chapter 1

Touma scratched his head and pulled a magnifying glass from the backpack on the ground.

~ These are Hieroglyphics, ~ he thought. ~ But here? In rural Japan? ~ There was a soft growl and something brushed his face. He pushed it away. ~ Why here? ~ The growl came again, more insistent and followed by a light chuckle. He groaned and felt himself slipping from his dream. "Lemme sleep."

"Wake up," said a soft voice. "Cannot sleep on the forest floor. Things live here." 

"Forest floor?" He opened his eyes slowly and let them focus on the face above his. It was round and fury, with deep blue eyes. "Byakuen?" There was a gasp and something moved. Byakuen lifted his head and growled. Touma sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "What happened?" 

"Hit you," spoke the voice, this time from the trees. "Moved you."

"Why?"

"Too close."

"To what?"

"Cannot say." He looked around, but could find no source to the sound. Byakuen growled. "No. I'm staying here."

"I won't hurt you," said Touma. "I promise."

"What could is the promise of someone who does not know the real meaning of the word?" she questioned, almost if quoting. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"What is your name?"

"... Name?"

"What are you called?"

"Legend. I'm a legend."

"Legend? That's what people call you?"

"Blue-hair, I know no people. I live alone, here in the forest."

"How old are you?" There was another growl, this one human.

"You speak of things I do not know." He sighed and rubbed his forehead, thinking of a way to explain it.

"How many times have you seen the snow?" 

"I have seen snow many many times. I do not know beyond that."

~ She's a wilder, ~ he thought, amazed. ~ She lives out here and doesn't know about letters or numbers or names. ~ "Please, let me see you." 

"Those with eyes should be able to see everything. You have eyes like I do, Blue-hair. You should be able to see me."

"Eyes like you do?"

"Eyes that know beyond what they should. Eyes that come from a power within." He felt a cold chill rip through him. She knew. But how?

"I don't know what you mean. Please, show yourself." There was a pause, then the leaves in front of him rustled softly. A figure emerged, female and wearing only a tattered thing that had once been a shirt. It fell to her hips and covered only the most essential places. Her black hair fell tangled to her shoulders and small chunks hid her eyes. That was what caught him. They were the color of the ocean in the sunlight, a shimmery color full of intelligence and warmth. "Where do you come from?" he whispered, without realizing it. 

"I come from here," she replied. "From the forest..."

"Your parents?"

"Par-ents?" She tried the word and made a face. "What is 'parents?'"

"The people who raised you. You're mother and father." She shook her head.

"No one raised me but myself," she said. A sharp bird cry split the air and Touma craned his neck to look at the sky. A white hawk dove and pulled back up, disappearing in the pale blue sky. Byakuen growled and Touma looked back down. The girl was gone...

Chapter 2 

__

"He is coming back! Quickly! Hide the girl!" Strong arms grabbed the child by the waist, yanking her from her spot frozen at the window of the temple. She could see the beast, human shaped and only slightly bigger then a human, covered in white metal. 

"I will have the child!" he yelled. She snapped from her trance long enough to let out a sob of fear. "Release her, Arago!"

"The girl is mine... I will not!"

"Master Arago!!" the child screamed. "Please! Be careful!"

"Master Arago will be fine," said the man holding her. He paused long enough to resettle her on his back and she looked fearfully into his gentle blue eyes. "Do not worry, rijan, child of legend. We will protect you from the evil."

"He will be hurt! Please, Anubis, forget about me. You must go help Master Arago," she pleaded. He shook his head. 

"No, child. You are my first priority." She looked at him, then gently kissed the soft scar on his cheek. 

"We will always be friends, Anubis," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "I promise that."

"We will, little one, we will," he whispered. "I promise as well."

"Anubis! There you are!" Shuten, Naaza, and Rajeru rounded a corner, armored up, but it wasn't anything the girl had not seen before. "You must transform! They are getting closer." Anubis carefully handed the child to Shuten and stepped back. She rested her hand on the Masho's chest and reveled at the sound she heard. His heart beat. A steady rhythm that seemed faster then she remembered. 

~ They are all risking themselves to protect me, ~ she thought. ~ But why? I am not anything special. ~ "Please..." she murmured. "Do not do this."

"Do not do what, rijan?" asked Rajeru. 

"Risk your lives for me! You might be killed and for what?! I am not worth it!" Tears stung her eyes, but Naaza only smiled gently. He reached out and ruffled her black curls.

"Child, you are worth every second we have spent on you," he said. "You are growing up and will be a strong fighter for our cause in the future."

"But... why? Why me?"

"Because, little one, you are something very special indeed. And we will make sure you realize that," said Rajeru. She gave a weak smile.

"Thank you. Thank you all..."

Chapter 3

A white hawk landed on the branch of a tall willow tree and screeched at the girl resting on a mat of intertwined branches. 

"Shinwa, do you think they are still alive?" she asked. "The Masho... I miss them so much." The hawk said nothing, only stretched its wings out. The human chuckled. "They have probably forgotten about me by now, ne?" She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "It has been so long since I saw them... I was not worth it, if I was lost and never found again." She closed her eyes and a single tear fell along her cheek and dropped onto the ground below. Byakuen growled softly. "There you are. I had thought you had wandered off again." She wiped her face and dropped down to the ground, landing in a crouch. He nuzzled her shoulder and she scratched his ears. "I guess you knew the blue haired boy yesterday, huh? Did I worry him?" The tiger growled and she laughed. "That bad, huh?" The ground rumbled and she lifted her head to regard the shadows creeping toward her. She silently stood and shook her head. "Are you ignorant?" she demanded. "I show no mercy!" She raised her hand and let the shadows move closer, shifting and turning like oil on water. "I... am... The Guardian!" White light engulfed her and exploded outward, twisting into the shadows and dissolving them. The sun filtered through the tree branches and Byakuen rubbed against her leg. She reached down and scratched his head. "So much for Darkness," she murmured. "Guess they won't try again, hey Byakuen?" The tiger didn't answer and she shook her head. "No, you're right. They always try again."

Eyes watched her through the cover of trees. Two, three, no four pairs or eyes watched her walk from the covering of the branches, the sunlight seemingly vanishing into the shadow that followed behind her. 

"No," whispered a voice. "Leave her alone."

"Anubis, wait-"

"I cannot." The Masho lunged and the girl turned around. Shock lit up her face as the shadow creature reared up, taking the form of a giant snake. It dove and she leapt back, raising her hand up. She froze as she caught sight of Anubis, sword drawn. The shadow-snake turned and attacked him, knocking the blade away and dove into the bushes, grabbing another one unawares. Anger struck the girl like a hammer and she growled angrily. 

"Leave them be!" she screamed. "You are here for me! Come get me!" She scooped up the dropped weapon and charged head on, driving the blade to the hilt into the beast. It gave a hiss of protest and clamped its jaw onto her arm. She cried out and heard a screech from above. "No! Shinwa! Stay away!" The white hawk dove, talons outstretched, and raked across the thing's head. It let go of the girl and struck at the retreating bird, barely missing its tail feathers. Byakuen roared and the girl leapt back, nursing her bleeding arm. Anubis' sword still protruded from the snake's middle, something it seemed oblivious to as it slithered across the ground towards her, her blood dripping from its fangs. "Come on, try me," she challenged.

"You were not raised to be a fool!" called Anubis. She smiled at him and shook her head. 

"No, I was not," she said. "I was not." The snake coiled back to strike again, but now she knew what to do. "Those who are caught in the shadow of the Guardian will know no mercy," she said firmly. "Even if they _are_ a shadow." The light engulfed her again and she drew in every bit of it she could. A steady humming noise erupted around the creature, freezing it in its place. The light shifted, moving from her body to her hand and then it exploded, shattering the creature into tiny pieces that dissolved in the air. The Masho stood in a semi-stunned silence - They had known she possessed power, but nothing like what they had just seen. 

"_Rijan?_" asked Rajeru softly. She gave a weak chuckle.

"Much has happened since I've been gone..." She lowered her hand slowly, then collapsed onto the ground. 

Chapter 4

__

The castle rocked violently. Rijan clung to Anubis' hand as they ran, with the other Masho, through the halls.

"Our only true choice it to take her into the mortal realm," said Shuten. "She will be safest where they least expect her."

"But none of us can go with her," said Rajeru. "We must stay and help Master Arago."

"Surely one of us can," said Naaza. "We cannot trust her with anyone else."

"I will take the child," said a voice that chilled her blood and made her clutch the hand in hers tighter. 

"Bademon," she murmured under her breath. She ducked behind Anubis and heard the demon chuckle. But she was the only one.

"You must be careful with her," said Shuten. "Master Arago would be angry if any harm were to befall her."

"As would the rest of us," said Anubis. She whimpered. 

"Please," she pleaded softly. "Do not make me go with him." Anubis turned and bent on one knee so he was almost eye level with her.

"He is a follower of Master Arago, the same as us," he said. "You will be safe."

"But-" He laid a metal finger on her lips and smiled gently.

"You will be safe, little one. I promise." She lowered her head.

"Tell me everything will be alright," she whispered. He smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead. 

"It will, little one, I promise." The castle shook again and she fell promptly on her tail. Within the next second, Bademon had her and was flying away. "Be careful, little one!"

"Anubis!" she cried, reaching her hand, although she would never touch him. Something about this was very wrong and she wanted to be back with him and the other Masho, on the ground, and away from the evil demon. "Masho!!"

Chapter 5 

"It is the poison of darkness," said Rajeru. "Bademon's snake shadow." He reached out and brushed a strand of sweat soaked hair from the girl's forehead. She whimpered softly. "This is our doing. If we had never trusted that demon..."

"It was inevitable," said Shuten. "Arago's plan was to use us to train her power, but it became evident how much we loved our little _rijan_, he had Bademon take her away."

"We would have given up even our loyalty," said Naaza. "All because of one little human child." 

"But she's not entirely human," said Seiji thoughtfully. He gently picked up her arm and examined the wounds that had been cleaned and dressed before he arrived. "Our powers all come from the armors. Hers are natural."

"She is a child of legend," said Anubis. "Just as we always told her."

"I would be interested to hear this legend," said Nasuti, from her position at the end of the girl's bed. She and the Warrior of Kourin were the only ones present in the airy, sunlit apartment of the four men (a). Nasuti had been home with Seiji when they had received the call that the Masho needed Seiji as soon as possible. Seiji, being ever punctual, had gotten over to their place in the blink of an eye.

"She came to us as a very young child," said Anubis. "She wasn't much older then three or four, I believe. She had been stolen from a kingdom in another dimension and was the daughter of a sorcerer. Her people had pronounced her their empress because she was a legend fulfilled: the child of Destiny born under a day of darkness. She had been born the instant of a full solar eclipse."

"But many children could have been born then," said Nasuti. "Why was she chosen?"

"There were only a few born at the instant, across their world. She was chosen because she was born on the steps of one of their more revered temples, as her mother tried to get there to gain a gods blessing on her child. Her mother died in child birth." The girl whimpered and tossed fretfully. Anubis reached out and wrapped his hand around hers. This seemed to calm her, for the time anyway.

"The very instant she was given to us, we knew why," continued Shuten. "We raised her to be a warrior, to fend herself and to fight, and all we had ever been told was that she was the entire future of the Dynasty. It seemed strange, that our fates were held in the hands of a mortal child, but she proved to be very different from every other child we had ever known."

"Bademon hates her," added Naaza. "Why, to this day we do not know. He made it his mission to make her life miserable. Some of the things were very childish: blaming her for things he had done and such. But they got worse. He began attacking her, physically and magically, as well as commanding others to attack her, even though the entire Dynasty loved her as much as evil can love someone pure."

"More then once, we found her broken and bleeding," said Anubis softly. "Because of that demon. But she was always strong. She worked through her own wounds, using her own power to heal them from inside. One day, though, she hit her point when he went after the horses we kept for training exercises. She was very much an animal person, but was angered very easily, and it didn't take much to get her raged at the demon."

"If he had been mortal, she would have killed him," said Rajeru with a light chuckle. "The raw destructive power she had kept buried for fear of hurting us came out in an explosive storm that was aimed directly at Bademon. For something she had never used, it was well focused."

"That was when she fulfilled a second part of the legend," said Shuten. "'The strength of fury to calm the demon'. Bademon was not so eager to attack her after that."

"What is the rest of this legend?" asked Nasuti. 

"The child of Destiny born under a day of darkness

The strength of fury to calm the demon

Song to change seasons

Good of evil

Defeat her foes

Awaken the hidden gate

To return to the heart

Release forgotten wings

That's what we've always known about her," said Shuten. "And we lost her."

"I would like to know _how_," said Seiji. "But now is not the time. She's starting to resist the poison." The white light was back, wrapping around the fallen girl like an aura. Seiji wrapped his hand around hers and gently began to coax her. 

"I'm a friend," he told her. "I'm here to help you. You must trust me." The light of Kourin's healing slowly joined hers and a look of pain crossed Seiji's face. "Ouch... she's hurt really bad. The poison's already penetrated her mind."

"Save her," said Anubis softly. "Please."

Chapter 6

"_Masho!!"_ _They fell from her sight and she gave a cry of pain. "Put me back down!"_

"Master Arago is angered that you have corrupted his warriors," said the demon. "I am to get rid of you for good. They will never know that anything happened to their precious little rijan." 

"They will!" she protested. "Put me down before I hurt you again! I'll do it, damn you!"

"Not so high up, little girl," he sneered. 

"I'd rather die then submit to anything Arago has planned," she said coldly. "I know whose good and whose evil. I am not a stupid little human mortal." 

"You are, girl, you are." Power coursed through her body and she went still in the demon's arms. "They will discover their precious rijan frozen in crystal and Master Arago will tell them that the mortal warriors spelled you, forever. Then the Masho will destroy the humans and Master Arago will have his kingdom." She wanted to struggle, but her body was numb through and through. Even her mind was slipping away.

My Masho, she thought. My Masho, leave before it is too late.


End file.
